The incident occurred in the port city of Chittagong, where a team of Bangladesh’s elite paramilitary force, the Rapid Action Battalion, had arrived to conduct an official operation. As the RAB personnel reached the location, they were reportedly surrounded by an unruly mob believed to be made up of suspected criminals. During the confrontation, several officers were allegedly taken hostage, and the situation quickly escalated into extreme violence.
In what has been described as yet another disturbing case of mob lynching in Bangladesh, one RAB officer was beaten to death by the mob in Chittagong. Local media reports stated that at least three other members of the paramilitary unit sustained injuries during the attack, which took place on Monday while the team was attempting to carry out its operation amid resistance from the crowd.
The deceased officer has been identified as Abdul Motaleb, who served as a deputy assistant director in the Rapid Action Battalion. His death has sent shockwaves through security circles, given that RAB is considered one of the country’s most powerful law-enforcement agencies and is typically deployed in high-risk operations against organised crime.
This killing adds to a troubling pattern of mob violence that has been unfolding across Bangladesh since mid-December. According to documented reports, a significant number of these mob lynching incidents have targeted individuals from religious minority communities, particularly Hindus, raising serious concerns about communal violence and law and order in the country.
One of the most widely reported cases occurred on December 18, when Dipu Chandra Das, a 27-year-old Hindu garment factory worker, was brutally lynched by a mob in the Mymensingh district over allegations of blasphemy. After being beaten, he was set on fire, in an act that drew widespread condemnation. Authorities later arrested at least 21 people in connection with the killing, including the main accused, Yasin Arafat, a former Islamic religious teacher, who investigators believe played a central role in planning and executing the attack.
In the weeks following Das’s death, at least five more Hindu men were killed in mob assaults or targeted attacks in different parts of the country. In Rajbari district, Amrit Mondal was allegedly beaten to death by villagers over accusations of extortion. In another incident in Mymensingh, Bajendra Biswas was shot dead under circumstances believed to be linked to targeted violence.
On New Year’s Eve, Khokon Chandra Das, a Hindu businessman from Shariatpur, was stabbed and later set on fire by a mob. He succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka. In Naogaon district, a 25-year-old Hindu man died after drowning in a pond when he jumped in while attempting to escape a group of locals who were chasing him on suspicion of theft.
More recently, a trader named Liton Chandra Das was beaten to death in the Kaliganj area. He owned a hotel and a sweet shop, and reports indicate that he was attacked after a minor argument with customers spiralled into a violent group assault.
Together, these incidents underline a deeply worrying rise in mob violence in Bangladesh, affecting both law-enforcement personnel and civilians, particularly those belonging to minority communities.
